The employer: Angelos Pitsos, owner of pla.NET.gr, an internet solutions provider based in Greece that offers web design and development; web hosting and domain name registration; cloud computing; and other IT-related services

The client: The publishing house behind the local newspaper Aiolika Nea, as well as online guides for tourists visiting Lesvos and Limnos

The project: The client wanted a Virtual Private Server (VPS) running three websites, accessible via several domain names, transferred to a new host based in Greece. These websites were being managed under the content management system Bitrix Site Manager with a commercially licensed Plesk panel for ease of administration. pla.NET.gr’s task was to undertake the migration of the server and sites onto a new VPS under its own public cloud infrastructure.

“Aha” moment: Due to a lack of experience with the platform, the company faced a hurdle in BITRIX. “We were trying to do the migration ourselves and we couldn’t,” says Angelos. “We spent hours reading articles, searching for a solution, until we decided to hire someone from Freelancer.com to do the job for us. We should have done that earlier, as we would have saved time and money.”

The right person: Angelos considered several key factors to identify the right freelancer: “Bidding price is always a criterion, but it’s not the only one. We try to keep our projects on a low budget, but we do not simply select the person with the minimum bid. We always make a thorough feedback review. The completion rate’s also a criterion. We don’t want someone to take over the project and then give it up.”

He eventually hired Danutz21 from Romania, based on his experience on the BITRIX platform and his past projects on server migration and clean installations. “We wanted someone who was sure that he could do it with the minimum risk and the minimum use of our resources. He was able to secure the server and deliver what we wanted with ease.”

The outcome: By replacing Plesk with the free Webmin panel, pla.NET.gr was able to significantly reduce the client’s costs while granting the client full control of the operating system and the server’s maintenance. “As a result, we have one more satisfied client on our VPS service,” Angelos proudly declares.

The Freelancer experience: Angelos is not new to Freelancer.com, having availed of the services of an experienced Flash developer for his first project.“Freelancer.com was the first website I found,” he shares. “I used it without even thinking about finding an alternative because it offered exactly what I was looking for.”

Several projects later, his opinion hasn’t changed. “I believe Freelancer.com has everything that I need, “ he reiterates. “The ability to leave comments and feedback on the freelancers is, in particular, really useful.”

Through the Freelancer platform pla.NET.gr can offer turnkey solutions to its clients. “We believe that we can further offer our clients value for money add-on services by tapping into the talented pool at Freelancer.com,” Angelos adds. “It’s not something that we need everyday, but we know that each time we need a freelancer to take care of something, we can find the right person on Freelancer.com.”